The present invention relates to head rest devices of vehicle seats. More particularly, the present invention relates to head rest devices in which head rest bodies are capable of tilting forwardly relative to seat backs of the vehicle seats.
A head rest device of a vehicle seat in which a head rest body is capable of tilting forwardly relative to a seat back of the vehicle seat is already known. Such a head rest device is taught, for example, by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Number 2000-102445.
In the known head rest device, stays of the head rest body are rotatably attached to the seat back, so that a head rest body can be rotated forwardly. Also, vertical slots are formed in the seat back, so that the stays can rotate or move therealong when the head rest body is tilted forwardly.
Further, the seat back is covered with a covering member. The covering member has vertical openings corresponding to the vertical slots of the seat back, so that the stays can be prevented from interfering with the covering member when the head rest body is tilted forwardly. The vertical openings of the covering member are respectively provided with flexible closure members, so as to be normally covered by the closure members.
However, the covering member may possibly be moved relative to the seat back when external forces are applied thereto. If the covering member is moved relative to the seat back, the vertical openings (the closure members) of the covering member may be misaligned with the vertical slots of the seat back (i.e., the closure members may move relative to the stays). As a result, the closure members can interfere with the stays when the stays are rotated in order to tilt the head rest body forwardly. Therefore, the head rest body cannot be smoothly tilt forwardly.
Also, when the covering member is moved relative to the seat back, the closure members can interfere with the stay. As a result, the closure members can be ridden up by the stays. This may lead to an awkward appearance of the covering member (the seat back).